People say we are who we are but, in reality the friends, family, and the media shape us everyday of what is called our identity. Families have a huge impact of who and what we are of course. In both Julia Alvarez “Once Upon a Quinceanera” and Jayme Poisson “Parents keep Child’s Gender Secret” talks about in how which families influence who and what we are and how much power they have in shaping one’s identity even if we do not see it. It is evident that society have expectations that are placed among gender and/or women roles but families tend to have the power to avoid these issues. Due to the articles, families do shape women 's identity just as men and have much power in doing so, due to tradition, expectations, and the way how society keeps reminding them to act a certain way.
In alvarez essay, she talks about the value it has of the
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The girl must see a value in the ritual that is being presented to them, gaining maturity and the “rite of passage”. It is evident that families tend to keep these traditions due to the majority of the culture but also because they tend to shape their daughters into “women” stage right away without noticing. “It made me feel so special. In fact, she credits it with leading her down the path to being crowned Miss Dominican Republic” (Alvarez 48). Families have so much power in shaping a woman 's identity. The tradition of it being how a girl transforms into a full women, ready for marriage and adulthood. Society expects them to act in a mature way after their fifteenth birthday, why no wonder woman 's identity transforms enormously. Not realizing how traditions do impact a gender roles and how they should act because families expect them to and society as well. Not mentioning the pressure they have in order to look grown and act like one. Poisson asserts “When the baby comes out, even the people who love you
Aaron H. Devor argues in his essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” the gender roles casted by society help shape the definition of gender and that society’s norms aren’t necessarily correct. In America, the two traditional categories for gender are male and female (109). He claims that gender is taught through their culture’s social definitions of gender; children see themselves in terms they have learned from the people around them (110). To support this claim, he introduces the “I”, “me” and “self”; the “I” forms a self-image to oneself as distinctive while the “me” allows one to fit into social norms (111). Together, they form the “self” that allows one to oversee and remove any behavior that is unacceptable
In “Toddlers In Tiaras” Skip Hollandsworth purpose is to get readers to understand that pageants are teaching young girls to young women that the sexualization of their looks are their main value, leaving a negative effect on contestants physically. He believes parents are usually the main reason why young girls join the pageants to begin with so, he targets parents as the audience of his essay. To get readers to understand his point of view and to persuade them to agree with him he displays evidences from reliable sources using ethos, pathos and logos throughout the article.
Sexuality and Gender in Children’s Daily Worlds article by Thorne and Luria focuses on the relationships between sexuality and gender in the experience of 9 to 11 year old children. The purpose of the authors’ analysis is to illuminate age-based variations and transitions in the organization of sexuality and gender. Throughout this paper we discover how gender and sexuality has become a social and cultural construction that is expressed through young children. At a young age we tend to define and separate ourselves by gender, boys vs. girl. These divisions are enforced around us daily. For example, teachers often tend to separate team by gender whether it’s in the classroom or the playground.
In Devor’s article, “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the social Meanings of Gender” one can better understand how society has a big impact on how gender is perceived. Understanding
In 1997, Allan G. Johnson published his book “The Gender Knot” which focuses on gender roles and stereotypes. Johnson covers many points in this article on how society and culture affect gender, such as: the difference in male and female biology, the way women look at themselves (societies’ beauty standards), the history of cultural abuse of woman and children, and the male dominated world. Although Johnson makes some valid and compelling points, I disagree with him partially based on today’s culture and my religion.
Gender is such a controversial subject. There are some people who see it as what you are born as whereas other people see it as a choice to be whatever you want. There are people who judge whatever gender you are, no matter the choices you make. Paul Theroux wrote about how restrictive masculinity is in his article “Being a Man.” There are so many more restrictions on being feminine. Theroux’s idea of masculinity being restrictive is being challenged on the account that being feminine is seen as bad, and weak.
The society has a certain expectation of us based on the differences in our characteristics, such as race, gender, or class. We might not be aware of the presence of social construction; however, the society’s expectation dictates on how people supposed to act, think, behave, and response. For example, social construction of gender begins at birth when the doctor tries to decide whether a baby is a boy or a girl based on what the baby’s genitalia and other secondary sex characteristics, such as gonads and sex chromosomes, look like. After the doctor classifies the baby as either a boy or a girl, the parents continue with the social construction process as they dress and provide toys for the baby. The parents of a baby girl tend to dress the baby in a pink–colored dress and provide the baby with dolls or cooking toys, while the parents of a baby boy tend to dress the baby in blue-colored pants and provide the baby with building blocks or car toys. As the children grow, the society expects them to behave according to the assigned genders. The children learn the society’s expectations by observing and imitating others with the same gender as them. Therefore, it is particularly difficult for a person with both sexes like Cheryl Chase to live in a society where the conception of gender is dichotomous, because she does not fit into the either one of the two categories of gender that the society accepts (Weil, 2006).
Mary Pipher goes on to say that the problem faced by girls is a ‘problem without a name’ and that the girls of today deserve a different kind of society in which all their gifts can be developed and appreciated. (Pipher,M). It’s clear that cultures and individual personalities intersect through the period of adolescence. Adolescence is a time in a young girl’s life that shapes them into the woman they become. I think it begins earlier than teen years because even the clothing that is being sold for younger girls says sexuality. Bras for girls just beginning in every store are now padded with matching bikini underwear, Barbie dolls are glamour up in such away that these girls believ...
Gender role conflicts constantly place a role in our everyday life. For many years we have been living in a society where depending on our sexuality, we are judged and expected to behave and act certain way to fulfill the society’s gender stereotypes. The day we are born we are labeled as either a girl or boy and society identifies kids by what color they wear, pink is for girls and blue is for boys. Frequently, we heard the nurses in the Maternity facility saying things like, “Oh is a strong boy or is beautiful fragile princess.” Yet, not only in hospitals we heard this types of comments but we also see it on the media…
A person’s identity is what makes one human. There is so much history when it comes to one’s identity. People do not realize the importance of identity. Women have struggled with many issues regarding their identity. People have made assumptions towards a women’s identity. Stories have been told about women ability therefore, it affects how society views women. There are multiple ways to tell someone’s story, however people are misjudging the stories being told. Language and stories affects women’s identity and ability to succeed because of negative stereotypes.
As Lorber explores in her essay “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, “most people find it hard to believe that gender is constantly created and re-created out of human interaction, out of social life, and is the texture and order of that social life” (Lorber 1). This article was very intriguing because I thought of my gender as my sex but they are not the same. Lorber has tried to prove that gender has a different meaning that what is usually perceived of through ordinary connotation. Gender is the “role” we are given, or the role we give to ourselves. Throughout the article it is obvious that we are to act appropriately according to the norms and society has power over us to make us conform. As a member of a gender an individual is pushed to conform to social expectations of his/her group.
The family is a very important factor in defining our gender and our identity. Our gender starts to define as soon as we are born. If a boy is born In a family, the family members would buy toys like monster trucks, race cars, action heroes. and toys that inspire male behavior. As opposed to if a girl is born, the family members would buy dolls, and cute dresses, and stuffed bears.
Being masculine or feminine is something that has become a limiting factor recently and in past history. Society views a person based on their sex; male or female, and categorizes the individual according to their gender (Cambridge, 2011). For centuries, women have been associated with certain characteristics such as being weak, domestic, and not capable of responsibility yet, men are seen as strong and dominant (Keller, 1994: 234). The entertainment industry gives people the image that males are more dominate over females by showing females as the foremost parental figure, homemakers, and sex objects. Culture has set very defined roles for each gender, and these roles are driven and promoted by the hit television show, Desperate Housewives.
Gender and family roles play an important part in identity formation. An individual’s perception of family roles and occupations, which are both influenced by gender, can affect the development of their identity (Farkas & Leaper 2015). Paternalism is the idea that men need to play the protective role because women are weak (Glick & Fiske 1996). Additionally, society stereotypes women as caregivers and men as providers. Among the research participants, many of their parents exemplify more traditional, stereotypical gender and family roles whereas their older siblings, especially sisters, exemplify nontraditional gender and family roles.
It is an irony of fate that a female who is worshipped as Mother & Deity, is oblivious to her own true self. Conditioned by family & society, she tends to believe that she can nowhere exist without the support of her husband, or son or brother or any other male. A female’s identity is said to be an offshoot of a male’s identity in society.